We all know and love horses, mint juleps and trifectas, but truly enjoying the grit and grime of the daily practice, grooming and care can escape us. Or in fact, we can escape it by building fantastic structures to help ease the workload for us and spoil our four-legged friends. Here’s a sampling of ten of the most stunning examples of North Carolina Equine Architecture (all my humble opinion, none to little of my own wording, and using all their images and giving them credit, too):
1. Matthews Cutting Horses, Warsaw (near Wilmington) NC, Stan Gralla Architects
This project, completed in collaboration with
GH2, is a seriously tricked-out 10-stall barn with office, vet area, and oh-by-the-way a 3,000 square foot home above the barn to allow incredible views of the surrounding farm with a balcony onto the indoor arena.
2. Carolina Equine Hospital, Browns Summit (near Greensboro) NC, CMW Architects
With an equine veterinary practice rapidly outgrowing its current facilities, the owners of the Carolina Equine Hospital retained CMW to plan a new full service equine hospital to be located outside Greensboro, North Carolina. Following a comprehensive programming and site master planning exercise, the resulting design solution addressed the veterinarians’ current requirements while anticipating the needs for the future growth of the practice.
3. Private Horse Farm, Boone, NC, Zaic & Associates Architects
This project included both horse facilities and estate home design and construction. Owners can view their horses from a living quarters’ kitchen window. Pretty spectacular!
This 36′ wood horse barn in Raleigh, NC has four custom European stall fronts, two custom breezeway doors, and rubber paver flooring. The timeless look of a post and beam structure complements the owner’s already amazing home and property. The custom wood interior and unique trim design sets this luxurious stable apart from the rest.
5. Apartment Barn, Burlington NC, DC Builders (yes, a two-fer)
It’s not often a design-builder gets a double mention, but this is stunning for both North Carolina horse and owner. With 1,100 sq. ft. of living space, six horse stalls and lots of custom finishes, this fully custom monitor barn with living quarters is destined to be one of our favorites.
Right off their website we read, “Rugged in material but fine in form, this elegant country home captures the gentile character of the owners and reflects their equestrian pursuits.
Located in the foothills of North Carolina’s mountains, the residence presents pristine views of the rolling pastures and green fields.”
I sure couldn’t say it any better. That’s pretty much word candy, so go read it for yourself. Now if we could just get an invitation to visit.
7. Residence and Four-Stall Barn, Southern Pines, NC – Stagaard & Chao
Sipping coffee with your sweetie on the back patio overlooking your horses is not a bad way to wake up, for sure. This is a gorgeous 3300 square foot residence with attached garage, caretaker’s living quarters, and four stall horse barn in Southern Pines, NC.
Stunning home again because of how the home is sited on a 15-acre property outside Charlotte. If I dug around for it a little more I could probably post a Google Earth shot of it for you to get a better perspective. I love the idea of living with your horses instead of just living near them!
I couldn’t consider myself an Eastern North Carolinian if I did not mention this superb facility. With 456 permanently stalls in six barns, this place is fleshing out its master plan as a hub of Equine and Agricultural activity in Eastern NC. Beautiful, functional and a great place for horse shows, this makes my list any day.
This is only an honorable mention because it’s not officially inside our beautiful North Carolina borders, but any place that houses the stadium of the Carolina Panthers is on my “nice” list!
(#KeepPounding)
Blackburn was tasked with a redesign and improvement of roads, fencing, paddocks, a run-in shed, and a well-defined entrance to the facility. They also built a shed-row style barn, which includes a studio apartment above for the observation of foals, wraps around three sides of a courtyard that doubles as a small sand training paddock.
There really are too many beautiful horse farms designed and built by numerous architects and contractors for me to name. North Carolina is a wonderful supportive state for the equestrian industry. It’s a worthy pastime to look for beautiful examples of North Carolina horse facilities and get ideas of your own. When it’s time for you to build your own space on your own land, we can help. Legacy Farms and Ranches of NC will find your perfect property for you! Find your own horse farms for sale here.
